ELEPHANT OF FRAUD: FIRST BANK OF NIGERIA ALLEGEDLY CONSPIRES WITH SECURITY GUARDS TO STEAL CUSTOMERS’ PROPERTY FROM STORAGE LOCKERS

Asides the
numerous illegal deductions and withholding of millions of customer’s money
without reversal, First Bank has been called out for their gross negligence and
misconduct. It was alleged that the bank
whose mantra is “You First” has refused to prioritize the interest of their
clientele but rather expose them to jeopardy due to their act of
unprofessionalism.

In a recent
tweet by a civil rights activist and an active Twitter user with the handle
@segalink, it was alleged that the bank is infamous for its several corporate
crimes one of which is the criminal conversion of property kept in the provided
bank lockers by the bank’s security officer and collusion between the First
Bank of Nigeria and its security guards.

According to
the tweets, it was alleged that one Mr. John Wine Wilcox who was invited to
Nigeria on an online editing project visited one of the branches of “fraud
bank” in Isheri to carry out some transactions, on entry into the bank, he
was directed to drop his personal belongings which included a backpack
containing his MacBook laptop, hard drives, phone and other important documents
in security locker provided by the bank. The gentleman complied and proceeded
into the banking hall with a key to the locker provided by the bank security guard.

However, when he returned after the transaction, he was greeted with the shock of his life as his belongings were nowhere to be found with the locker ajar. An immediate complaint to the bank led two FBN staff; Mrs Tosin Oyeseay and Ede Okoanegbete to inspect the said lockers and surprisingly it was discovered that the key to the locker could actually open all other lockers as none were unique.

In order to
manage the situation, he immediately reported to the Police and petitioned the
bank manager which led to the arrest of the guard and the bank agreeing to
their liability and promised that the insurance firm will pay for the damages.

In a bid to
attain social justice after waiting for several months without any positive
response from the bank, the victim contacted a non-profit organization known as
Gavel who wrote to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CPC, and the Lagos State
Commissioner of Police on behalf of the victim. The organization also allowed
the engagement of another firm to double the efforts of the petition, yet no
tangible feedback was gotten. Information gathered by this online news medium
further revealed that the only response gotten was a lame letter from the bank
promising to manage the situation without actually doing anything about it,
thereby leaving the young man to the mercy of his angry and disappointed
clients to suffer psychological torture.

Despite the
hurdles presented over 7 months of the occurrence of the unfortunate incident,
it was purported that the bank has done nothing to help the victim recover from
the great loss but rather, the supposed insurance that is meant to help pay for
the losses is trying to shelve liability as they kept managing him with false
hope, bouncing him from the Bank manager to the Insurance manager and CBN
liaison officer.

SecretReporters also gathered that as a result of
this, the victim has been receiving life-threatening messages from clients who
feel he made away with their money and failed to deliver their work as
promised.

Furthermore,
the nonprofit organization alleged that there might be a criminal conspiracy by
FBN as they not only failed to provide the CCTV footage as evidence but also
hurriedly changed their storage locks and dysfunctional Surveillance system. In
that regards, the organization has made a resolution to host the largest
customer nationwide protest across all the branches of First Bank on behalf of
Mr John whose life was almost ruined by the gross negligence of the bank, the
criminal deceit of the bank’s insurance company and the indolence of Central
Bank.

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